Sunday, April 06, 2008

Spring Break in Bryce Canyon

For Spring Break this year, we spent a few days in sunny but cold Utah at Bryce Canyon. We stayed at Ruby's Inn, did an incredibly muddy hike, and enjoyed our in-room hot tub every evening. This was also a great opportunity for Drew to put his great new camera to use!

Here we are hiking around the rim. Some Germans we met took this picture for us.

Some of the hoodoos available for your viewing pleasure!

We took the Najavo Loop Trail through knee-deep snow and some pretty devastating ice. We saw the couple in front of us, hiking in tennis shoes with a thousand-dollar camera just around their necks, slip and fall down an entire flight of stairs! They were okay (and so was the camera) but the flight of stairs they fell down had turned into a flume of ice. So we slid down it caf-tray style. Except without the caf trays. It was a beautiful hike, though, which we extended into the Queen's Garden Trail when we reached the bottom. Seeing the canyon from the top was breath-taking -- seeing it from the bottom gave you another level of appreciation!

Here's Drew on the way back up:

And here's Liz at the trail ending. Notice -- boots recommended. Boy, were we glad to have them! And will all the mud and snow, did they ever look used when we were done!

Nothing felt better than a dip in the hot tub after a long. muddy, snowy, but beautiful hike!

We also ventured out to the trail heads at night. Bryce Canyon is known for its stargazing, and Drew wanted to take some nighttime pictures. Believe it or not, this picture was taken in complete darkness at about 10:00 at night! Spooky!